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The tools that make me.

This is not to think the world, as I so often do. To bring things down to a level that pattern matches with the hard edges that I see.

No, I've been thinking about the tools that I carry with me.

Since there is something freeing, only taking that which you need in one’s pockets. Removing the excess, to find focus. To live at the speed of life, rather than the speed of light.

If I ponder long enough, I can see the stories they are telling me.

A Watch:

From memory, it was purchased off eBay during the great online shopping addiction of 2009. It’s traveled with me to 14 countries and managed to survive border crossings both far and wide.

Yet, why this watch? Well, it could be any watch for that matter. However, in this day and age of digital everything having a physical manifestation of time has a greater impact on my mood.

It also helps that this watch is durable, comfortable, and well-designed.

A Leatherman:

I’ve carried a Leatherman multitool, in one form or another, for the last 3 years or so. It’s the one thing I continue to use daily. There are plenty on the market, this happens to be the one I use.

This one isn't infallible, as I found out on the wind-swept plains of Turkmenistan. Takling a grounded fighter jet that had crashed. My attempts to remove a memento from the plane, resulted in both a broken phillips head driver and some broken dreams that were compounded by incessant dust that clouded our path forward.

A Rock:

It might seem counter-intuitive to include a stone in this list. Since it’s is largely dead weight. But it offers another physical reminder of the roads and trails well traveled, and the journeys to come.

Picking it up on the unsteady shores of Lima back in 2008 feels like a world away from my present disposition. As I wandered the shores on the south pacific, picking the stones here and there. The touch of each one gave me pause to think of a friendship that was quickly disintegrating.

Today, in happier circumstances it's part of my daily contemplation that was propelled by this bruce lee quote -